Archive for the ‘New Christian’ category

I went for a coffee upstairs while waiting for my grandchildren who were at the Church summer club on the ground floor. All the others in the room were women, except for an older man, so I went and sat by him and chatted. He was a retired lorry driver and, like me, was waiting while his grandchildren had their fun at Church club.

He was very friendly; and as we had nearly 2 hours to kill we had quite a long conversation. Somehow we got on to matters of faith. He had attended Sunday School as a lad, like most of our generation, but that was the last of his regular churchgoing.

I explained the steps I had gone through while trying to find out what was ‘real’ in the spiritual realm. I went on to share my testimony in some detail, which caused him to realise that that there were such things as ‘God encounters’. I explained how I had got down on my knees in my bedroom and confessed my sins (repentance) and asked Jesus to forgive me. I also testified how the next day on the way to work everything seemed new – even the colours of the world looked brighter!

A subsequent experience several days letter led to my encountering God’s love in a very powerful and personal way. God showed me how much he loved ME! As I grew in the Christian life God showed me his heart for the poor, the needy and the rejected, which led me to volunteer roles on the street and elsewhere where I encountered those with many kinds of problems. Most of those I met had terrible childhood experiences, leading me to realise that such damage led to severe knock-on effects in later life.

Soon after becoming a new Christian I had had a conversation with a (supposedly Christian) woman who said to me that the miracles that Jesus did as recorded in the Bible ‘never really happened’ – in her view these ‘accounts’ only illustrated ideas or concepts. I had been appalled at this, so much so that I went straight home and cried my eyes out- at this woman’s offence against Jesus and his works. As I was weeping in my bedroom Jesus suddenly appeared in my room, put his arms around me and comforted me. I never saw his face, but I recall thinking afterwards ‘how brown his arms are!’

Back to the present. My wife entered the room, I introduced my lorry driver friend who then said, in a humorous way: ‘your husband’s trying to convert me!’ My wife replied: ‘yes, I can imagine that’

One regret: I had omitted to bring any gospel tracts with me. My friend didn’t use the internet, so a tract would have been a nice parting gift…………..

Before we parted to collect our respective grandchildren, he said to me: ‘I appreciated our chat. You have a very gentle and respectful way of putting these things across’.

Bible: 1 Peter Chapter 3 Verse 15: ‘ But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect’.

Went into town on Friday and spotted the homeless guy I met last Friday. What a coincidence! We had a great chat. He told me he’d been to church since we last met. I reminded him of the places where he could get free/cheap food. He hadn’t visited the Homeless Healthcare Team, so I reminded him he should definitely go there as they could offer real help, plus a shower to get himself clean. I also blessed him in a practical way, which again he appreciated.

The next day I was at the local docks area where we had a team offering to pray for people – for healing or whatever their need was. One woman went for prayer, so I was directed to chat to her husband who was waiting a few yards away. He told me he was into “Mindfulness”, which is all the current rage here in the UK. Sadly, it leaves God out of the equation, as I indicated to him. He was obviously reviewing his life, as he admitted to me. I was able to share the gospel in some detail, plus share a lot of my personal testimony, including the time Jesus appeared in my bedroom. He was quite keen to hear what I had to say, and thanked me for sharing. As his wife came over to join him I gave him my card and encouraged him to check out my website New Christian UK After they left one of our team said that the wife had given her life to Christ during the 10 minute period she was there. Praise God!

A guy I met today told me how he had been desperate because of the effect heroin drug addiction was having on his life.

His Roman Catholic mother encouraged him to seek help through prayer. He told me: “I prayed a really desperate prayer to Jesus asking him to help me. Soon afterwards I got a place in a drug rehab unit and it really seems it was an answer to prayer. I got clean and stayed in a dry house for 17 months, until one day I went out and had a couple of pints of beer. This was reported and I had to leave the dry house and all the good mates I had made. At one time I was praying to Jesus every day, but lately I’ve been backsliding.”

My friend accepted he was the author of his own downfall. However, he doesn’t want to get back into the dark place he was in before. His mother has told him she will have nothing to do with him if he goes back the way he was.

I told him I knew a local church which had a support group for people with addictions. I gave him the details and he was really pleased. We then went outside where I offered to pray for him and he agreed. He was really grateful after the prayer and thanked me most profusely.

I gave him my website details and invited him to contact me if he wanted a chat.

This post follows on from my two previous January 2013 posts (1) “How Do I Become a Christian and (2) “Practical Steps To Follow To Become a Christian”.

Sadly, many churches offer little dedicated teaching for new Christians in any depth. Fortunately, one British website has recognised this and provides many resources for them. The site is “New Christian UK” and you can see a list of basic pages here . This site will help you understand how to live as a Christian, gives you advice about the Bible, the Holy Spirit, etc and how to share your faith story with others.

As you grow as a Christian and mature, this same website will accompany you along the way. Their “What’s New? Page” has links to over 200 other pages on the same site, including stories of others who have become Christians. One recent testimony added was LD’s story of her tormented life before she became a Christian. The video “A Man Fell Into a Hole” shows the uniqueness of Jesus Christ amongst other religions that exist.